Hundred Echoes

Time passed.

The case of Zhou Zhongru came to an abrupt end because of a letter from Meng Juxiang.

There was no follow-up.

As time went by, people in the streets gradually stopped talking about it.

When a person died, the light went out.

Except for those who had loved or hated him, the living wouldn't keep a dead man in their thoughts.

In the Inner Courtyard of the Like-Elephant Martial Hall, Li Beichen struck the final move of the Giant Elephant Fist.

A few lines of small text appeared before him.

[Technique: Giant Elephant Fist (Slight Mastery)]

[Progress: (0/1000)]

[Traits: Bright Force, Elephant Breath, Hundred Echoes]

[Bright Force: body and strength united; punches surpassing a thousand jin]

[Elephant Breath: long-lasting breath; increased stamina and explosive power]

[Hundred Echoes: greatly increased muscle strength; slightly increased tendon and bone strength; capable of a hundred consecutive bursts]

In an instant, an unprecedented torrent surged into Li Beichen's body. His muscles were strengthened in the blink of an eye, their fibers woven like steel cables. With the slightest exertion, each one pulled taut.

At the same time, the tendons buried deep beneath Li Beichen's muscles were strengthened as well, growing more resilient and powerful as they stretched and contracted.

Even his bones had been strengthened slightly, becoming all the sturdier.

These were parts of the body normally tempered only at Eighth Grade Muscle Refining, or even Sixth Grade Bone Refining. Li Beichen was already laying the foundation for them.

All these enhancements together brought about an achievement beyond the imagination of an ordinary Flesh Tempering martial artist.

Hundred Echoes!

Ten consecutive muscle pops marked the initial mastery of Flesh Tempering, enough to support a martial artist's cultivation of the next realm.

But now, Li Beichen had leaped straight from ten pops to a hundred.

He had achieved something that only true disciples of the Giant Elephant Sect could accomplish.

Insights into the Giant Elephant Fist kept welling up in Li Beichen's mind. He had gained a deeper understanding of this foundational fist technique.

The changes the panel brought to Li Beichen's body mainly improved its strength. Its internal evolution hadn't changed his build much or turned him into a hulking beast of muscle like Meng Juxiang or Zhang Meng.

It had all happened in an instant.

At that moment, his master, Meng Juxiang, was alone in the small hut where the Bronze Elephant was enshrined.

The highest-ranking person present was their eldest senior brother, Zhang Meng, a Seventh Grade martial artist.

Only Zhang Meng noticed a thing or two about the tremendous change Li Beichen had undergone in an instant.

"Old Seven, why do I feel like you've suddenly become a different person... You've gotten a lot stronger."

"Is that so? I feel a lot stronger too."

Li Beichen rolled up his sleeve, revealing his upper arm and its blood-swollen, bulging biceps, each muscle fiber taut.

Among his fellow disciples, his muscles were the smallest by far.

But no one knew how terrifyingly strong they were.

They only thought Li Beichen's muscles looked well-defined.

Fourth Senior Brother Yang Ling, standing beside Li Beichen, glanced at his unimpressive muscles and rolled up his own sleeve.

With a slight flex, the veins on his arm bulged.

His arm was several times thicker than Li Beichen's.

"Eldest Senior Brother, Old Seven needs to work on those muscles. The bigger they are, the stronger you are!"

The bigger they were, the stronger you were.

Among Flesh Tempering martial artists, this was practically the truth.

Whoever had the bigger physique was generally stronger.

Wu Ming, whom Li Beichen had beaten to death on the spot, had seen that his muscles were a whole size smaller than his own. That was why he'd been so careless, thinking Li Beichen was overestimating himself.

"Mm. Old Seven, you've got great talent, but your muscles are growing too slowly!"

"You need to eat more!"

"Eat hard, train hard, and push yourself hard. That's how you build muscle!"

Hearing their eldest senior brother Zhang Meng say this, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ninth Grade martial artists only get an ounce of exotic beast meat a day. It's not enough... You can stuff yourself with all the beef and mutton you want, but it'll barely meet your training needs. If you want to build muscle, you can only grind it out over time. Old Seven's progress is already fast, if you ask me."

Sixth Senior Brother Han Fengqi, who was usually a man of few words, suddenly spoke up.

At his words, everyone fell silent.

Resources really were scarce. The Like-Elephant Martial Hall already provided its Ninth Grade Inner Courtyard disciples half a jin of exotic beast meat every five days, which was an exceptionally generous benefit.

They had nothing to complain about.

"If you want more resources, go hunt for them in the depths of the South Ridge Mountains!"

Yuan Dazong narrowed his long, thin eyes and spoke with a cool expression.

"You have to rely on yourself to get a full meal."

"Yes, Second Senior Brother!"

Han Fengqi immediately fell silent.

"Get back to training! That's enough chatter!"

Eldest Senior Brother Zhang Meng put an end to the discussion, and everyone resumed their training.

The Lingnan Mountains stretched for more than a thousand li, a vast mountain range.

They ran across Jiangnan Circuit.

Small Gravel Mountain, behind Clear Creek Village,

was an insignificant little bump jutting out from the Lingnan Mountains.

There, the strong devoured the weak, and wild beasts swarmed.

Only true martial artists dared venture into the depths.

It was noon, lunchtime.

Li Beichen picked up his food bowl and went over to sit beside Eldest Senior Brother Zhang Meng.

He wanted to ask about exotic beast meat.

Although he had once had jerky made from an entire Black-White Strange Pig,

he trained three times a day, and as his strength improved, his daily ration of jerky had gone from two or three ounces to nearly a jin.

That was what it took to meet his training needs, keep his energy up, and sustain his rapid progress.

Now, more than half of the jerky was gone, leaving only about thirty jin.

And with his breakthrough today and his strengthened muscles, he needed even more energy in his daily life.

He estimated that the remaining jerky wouldn't last him even a month.

Better to plan ahead. Li Beichen had to start thinking about resources for his future training.

His braised-food business brought in a fortune every day, and he had accumulated quite a bit of silver. If there was a way to buy exotic beast meat,

he wouldn't mind paying a high price.

Money might belong to him on paper, but it was like duckweed without roots. Only when it was truly turned into strength of his own

would it become something real and reliable.

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

Zhang Meng had a leg of mutton as big as a man's face in one hand and was wolfing down his meal.

Li Beichen also noticed a piece of meat the size of his palm in Zhang Meng's bowl.

It was golden in color and gave off an alluring fragrance.

It was clearly meat from no ordinary creature.

The exotic beast meat looked far better in quality than that of the Black-White Strange Pig at Li Beichen's home.

"Speak!"

"Eldest Senior Brother, is hunting in the Lingnan Mountains the only way to get exotic beast meat? Is there no other channel?"

Zhang Meng stopped eating and looked Li Beichen over. He thought for a moment.

"There is one, actually. That braised-food business of yours brings in enough silver."

"Let me tell you after I finish eating!"

"All right!"

Li Beichen threw himself back into the glorious cause of eating.

After eating his fill, Zhang Meng found a thin twig and picked his teeth with it. He glanced back at Li Beichen, then strolled toward the bamboo pavilion in a corner of the Inner Courtyard.

Li Beichen immediately followed.

"Eldest Senior Brother, please enlighten me!"

"Old Seven, there's a place where you might be able to buy exotic beast meat, but you'd have to get lucky."

"What place?"

"The Black Market."

Hearing those two words, Li Beichen raised an eyebrow.

"Eldest Senior Brother, please tell me more..."